Meteorwarning

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-06

Overview

meteorwarning is a lightweight FX prefab that visually represents an incoming meteor threat by displaying a dynamic shadow. It uses networked properties (_fade, _fadeend, _period) to synchronize fade state across clients and updates the entity's alpha (via AnimState:OverrideMultColour) to simulate a pulsing or fading warning effect. The entity is non-interactive (NOCLICK), purely decorative (FX), and self-destructs after fading completes.

It is instantiated during meteor shower events — specifically when a meteor impact is imminent — and plays a one-time spawn sound (dontstarve/common/meteor_spawn).

Usage example

This component is instantiated internally by the game during meteor events and is not typically added manually by mods. A typical instantiation occurs via SpawnPrefab("meteorwarning"), optionally with a custom fade profile:

local warning = SpawnPrefab("meteorwarning")
if warning and warning.startfn then
    -- Start a 2-second fade from 33% to 100% opacity
    warning.startfn(warning, 2, 0.33, 1.0)
end

Dependencies & tags

Components used: transform, animstate, soundemitter, network
Tags: Adds FX, NOCLICK.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
_fade	net_smallbyte	AlphaToFade(0.33)	Current fade level (0–63), representing alpha scaled to 8-bit.
_fadeend	net_smallbyte	AlphaToFade(1.0)	Target fade level (0–63) to reach before stopping.
_period	net_float	1.0	Time interval (seconds) between fade increments.
_task	Task	nil	Periodic task used to update fade state on the client.
startfn	function	nil (assigned on master only)	Function reference to manually re-trigger the fade sequence.

Main functions

startshadow(inst, time, starttint, endtint)

• Description: Configures and initiates the fade animation. Only callable on the master simulation. Does nothing if using default parameters (no-op optimization).
• Parameters:
  • time (number) — Total duration of the fade in seconds.
  • starttint (number) — Starting alpha (0.0–1.0); defaults to 0.33.
  • endtint (number) — Ending alpha (0.0–1.0); defaults to 1.0.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: No explicit failure; uses AlphaToFade to clamp inputs to valid byte range (0–63).

PushAlpha(inst)

• Description: Applies the current _fade value as the entity’s mult colour alpha. Called during initialization and whenever fade properties change.
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — The meteorwarning entity instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

UpdateFade(inst)

• Description: Advances _fade by 1 per _period interval until _fade reaches _fadeend. Cancels its own task upon completion.
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — The meteorwarning entity instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnFadeDirty(inst)

• Description: Restarts the fade update task with the latest _period. Called on property changes (networked via "fadedirty" event).
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — The meteorwarning entity instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: fadedirty — triggers OnFadeDirty on clients to resync the fade loop.
• Pushes: None (does not emit events beyond internal task lifecycle).